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JFE Steel, Japan’s second largest integrated steelmaker, has decided to lift its entire catalogue of products by over Yen 13,000/t ($121/t) for April sales to all domestic and overseas customers, spot and long-term contract buyers, the Tokyo-based steelmaker has announced. The across-the-board increase is to offset higher iron ore and coal prices, a company official confirmed on March 4.
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Japanese steel product prices will continue strengthening for the foreseeable future because of rising raw material prices and tight supplies of finished steel, according to Shinichi Nakamura, chairman of the Tekko Sangyo Kondankai, a monthly meeting of Japanese steel industry directors convened to discuss market trends.
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By the end of January, stocks of carbon steel hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated coils and sheets at the Japanese steel producers, coil centers and distributors rose by 9,000 tonnes or 0.3% tonnes on month to 3.57 million tonnes, or up on month for two consecutive months, but the volume was still below the normal range, Mysteel Global noted from the latest data released by Nippon Steel on March 2.
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H-beam prices in Japan’s retail market have risen by Yen 2,000/tonne ($19/t) over the past week as dealers try again to pass along higher mill prices to their customers. The traders are receiving help in their push from the rebound in scrap prices, according to market sources in Tokyo and Osaka.
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China’s heavy truck sales for February would probably approximate 110,000 units, or nearly tripling from the 37,600 units in February 2020, according to the latest release by Beijing-headquartered Commercial Vehicle World on February 28, which was mainly due to the ongoing truck upgrading in China, the country’s heavy investment in the infrastructure and the seasonal demand peak in the first quarter.
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Japan’s eight major automakers posted a 4.5% on-year drop in January output at both the domestic and overseas plants to about 2.11 million units, according to the data released by automakers until February 26, and the decline was not about auto demand but the worldwide shortage of semi-conductors, according to market sources.
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Japan’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for its manufacturing industry for February gained 1.6 basis points on month to reach 51.4, returning to expansion for the first time since December and indicating that Japanese manufacturers are gradually emerging from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to index compiler au Jibun Bank Corporation on March 1, the February result showed the strongest improvement since December 2018. A reading over the threshold of 50 connotes expansion, Mysteel Global notes.
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Some domestic yellow goods dealers in East and Central China have begun raising sales prices of their heavy equipment beginning late February, trying to offset higher manufacturing costs caused by climbing input prices including those of steel, Mysteel Global has learned.
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Japan’s carbon steel exports declined again in January, falling by 13% on year and by 0.9% on month to 1.65 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation on February 26. Though this marked the ninth consecutive monthly tumble, a JISF official was optimistic that this month’s result would show some improvement as steelmakers had more capacity available.
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Osaka Steel, Japan’s largest steel sections producer, decided to keep its list prices of sections unchanged for domestic sales in March, trying to stabilize the prices in steelmaking raw materials and other input costs, though the company is ready to raise its prices in the coming months should the input costs incline further, a company official said on February 26.
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Kyoei Steel, Japan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to keep its rebar prices unchanged at Yen 82,000/tonne ($773/t) for domestic sales in March, and this applies to all its four plants across Japan, according to the company notice on February 25, just to give the market one more month to digest the previous price increases, a company official explained.
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Japan’s domestic plate prices rose Yen 2,000/tonne ($19/) on week by February 25, mainly on the list price hikes by the domestic steel producers, which have intensified the worry among the distributors, as higher prices may dampen the sales in an already stagnant market, market sources in Tokyo shared on Thursday.
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India’s
largest automaker has mutually agreed to give an interim hike of more
than INR 7,350/t to steel producers in Q4, SteelMint learned from its
credible sources. However, no official confirmation has been received by
the company. This interim adjustment would be an additional payment on
the contract prices for
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Toyota Motor, Japan’s largest automaker, has informed its auto components suppliers that it will keep domestic automobile production at around 12,500-13,000 units/day during March-May, and its auto steel consumption, thus, will not be affected much by the short-time stoppage at half of its 28 assembly lines in Japan after the earthquake in mid-February, industry sources in Tokyo and Nagoya of central Japan shared on February 24.
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Domestic sales of passenger cars in China this month are expected to reach 1.2 million units, some 44.9% lower on month, according to the latest release from the China Passenger Car Association on February 22. The CPCA said the Chinese New Year holiday over February 11-17 had interrupted sales, leading to the decline in sales.
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Japan’s crude steel production in January including both carbon and special steel decreased by 3.9% on year to about 7.92 million tonnes, or recording the 11th consecutive month that had posted an on-year decline, according to the latest data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on February 22, though it was 5.3% higher on month, suggesting that country’s steel demand and output has been recovering steadily on month, a JISF official pointed out.
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Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan’s leading electric-arc furnace producer, will keep prices of all its finished carbon steel items unchanged for March sales, to give the market more time to fully digest its previous increases, the company announced on February 22.
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JFE Shoji Corporation, a trading company under Japan’s second largest integrated mill - JFE Steel group – has just commissioned its second coil processing plant at its existing coil distribution center in Hai Phong city of north Vietnam recently in February to cope with the probably growing demand for steel sheets in the ASEAN country, JFE Shoji announced on February 18.
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Japan’s domestic rebar prices have remained unchanged in the past two weeks after one-month rises, but the domestic market sources expect the prices to be back on an uptrend now that the domestic steel scrap prices have strengthened for two weeks.
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Japan’s exports of steel in all grades and forms declined by 13.3% on year to about 2.43 million tonnes for January, or the ninth month in a row with on-year drops, according to the preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on February 17, which was mainly due to the domestic steel mills’ preference for domestic sales over exports when supply was tight, Mysteel Global understood.
